Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Thursday that the Trump Administration and Gilead Sciences—the manufacturer of Truvada—had reached an agreement for the pharmaceutical manufacturer to donate PrEP to up to 200,000 uninsured individuals annually through at least 2025, and potentially through 2030.

Next week, October 18-21, the Harm Reduction Conference will take place in New Orleans, LA. The conference is the most widely attended harm reduction gathering in the nation, and the only conference of its kind in the United States. And AIDS United will be there in full force!

This summer marked the conclusion of AIDS United’s inaugural round of Transgender Leadership Initiative (TLI) grants. Over the past year, eight organizations funded through TLI developed and ran community-driven projects to solidify transgender power in our society and respond to the dire affects of the HIV epidemic experienced by transgender communities. In that brief time, our amazing cohort of grantees have accomplished some incredible things.

From January 18th – 21st, the NAESM Leadership Conference will take place in Atlanta, GA. The conference is a venue for the new generation of HIV public health professionals to collaborate, innovate, and help shape the future of African-American MSM/YMSM public health matters; A venue to present, discusses, and examine social determinants of health in the context spirituality, religiosity, and faith through the perspectives of black gay men.

I got a call in May 2016. “Jesse we are searching for the interim President & CEO of AIDS United…. Are you interested?” Without missing a heartbeat, I thought to myself, “You must do this – now!” My life changed immediately. I could never have predicted all the other changes coming in 2016. For all of us living with, working for, and affected by HIV in America, 2016 was a year of unexpected change.

On National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we need to come together across communities to make sure that everyone has the knowledge and access to tools, like PrEP and HIV treatment, that could ultimately end the epidemic in the United States.

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to be a very effective strategy for preventing the transmission of HIV. However, in its current form involving the prophylactic use of Truvada, it is not 100% effective. With the recent announcement of a second instance of HIV transmission to someone who was adherent to PrEP, debate over the best way to address these very rare, but serious lapses in Truvada's effectiveness has increased.